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| Totally not Star Wars! Honest! |
You might have noticed I'm a bit of a fan of Mailanka Psi-Wars project. For those who haven't taken a look at it, Psi-Wars is a massive project that is both a setting heavily based on the feel and tone of Star Wars but change slightly to better suited for role playing and a massive proof of concept project designed to teach GMs both new and old some best practices for designing a setting based around an intellectual property that you like.
While I'm done a post that was inspired by the setting already, a few days ago I was contacted by Mailanka over on the GURPS discord server asking if I wanted to design a few blasters for him and given that stating up energy weapons is pretty much by bread and butter, I couldn't reply yes fast enough.
So if ya want to see what kind of crazy pew-pews I came up with, follow me after the jump!
And after that I dive into a grab bag of blasters I think will be interesting from a player or GM prospective. I should also note that since Psi-Wars tries to stick to RAW as close as possible, these are regular old GURPS blasters and not my alternate take I used for my Blast Em! Article. I should also note that Psi-Wars blasters are powered by super science power cells which hold 5 times as many shots as normal power cells.
Hotshoting
For safety reasons as well as maximizing the weapons usable lifetime, blasters often only fire shots at half their barrel and cooling systems max output. Do to this it is possible to "hotshot" your blaster, modifying it to increase its performance at the expensive of making it more likely to malfunction.
There are two ways you can choose to hotshot your blaster, greater bolt output or higher rate of fire.
If you choose to give your blaster a greater bolt output it doubles the energy of each shot. Multiply the blasters damage by ×1.3 or add +1 per die and multiply range by ×1.7.
If you choose to give it a higher output double the weapon's ROF.
In both cases this lowers the weapon to malf. 14.
To modify a blaster first choose which option you want and then choose if you want the weapon to always shoot in hotshot mode or if you can switch it off and on.
If it's always on it's a relatively simply procedure. It takes 10min and roll against Armory (Small Arms)+1. If you want modify it so that can switch the hotshot effect off and on the it is a average procedure and it then takes 12hrs and a roll against Armory (Small Arms). It takes a ready action to switch between modes unless you have the Lightning Fingers Perk.
If you have modified it to be able to switch between modes you have it set to use both hotshot options. This just takes a second simple procedure to add the second option.
Legality of hotshoting depends on where and when it was done. It is totally "legal" in the Rim, under the old Republic it was only totally legal on the most libertarian of worlds and was outlawed or required a proper excuses for why you needed the firepower, a heavily taxed licenses and often upgrading it to Very Fine (Reliable) for safety reason everywhere else. Under the Empire, unless you were in the Rim, hotshotted weapons were totally banned. If you had a legal one under the old Republic then you either had to have it verifiably downgraded if you were lucky enough to allowed to own a firearm or verifiablly disposed of otherwise. If you were caught with a hotshotted weapon you would be tried as if you were holding military grade weapons and held as an rebel insurgent.
Turbo Blasters
Turbo Blasters are blasters that use a turbo particle focusing device to boost bolt efficiency, allowing it to fire higher energy bolts safely. By using a deflector field to knock the blaster bolts particles into a higher energy before entering the blasters bolt focal emitter, it increases beam efficiency allowing a more powerful bolt to be generated for the same amount of power (thereby generating less waste heat and stress on the system).
Making a blaster a Turbo Blaster increases it weight by 30% and cost by a factor of 3. A Turbo Blaster increases its damage by ×1.3 or add +1 per die and multiply range by ×1.7.
Note Turbo Blasters can still be hotshotted.
Blaster Pistols
Stellar Dynamics PB 9 (TL11^)
One of the most common blaster pistols on the market, the PB 9 is used by police, military, civilian and sport shooters across the galaxy. While it does nothing revolutionary, it delivers a solid platform at a good price point and doesn’t try to compensate with “unique” but largely superfluous features.
Do to its popularity, several sub variants of the PB 9 have produced . This includes:
The low cost and compact, short barreled PB 9 CD: Range 110/340, wt 1.4/1C ST 6, Bulk -1, Cost $1,700/$10. A popular backup weapon.
The extended barrel, long ranged PB 9 ER: Range 750/2,200, wt 2.6/1C, Cost $4,300/$10. While not as popular as the short barreled PB 9 CD it is a common sight a shooting competitions (heavily modded of course) and with civilian shooting enthusiasts.
A rapid fire, repeating blaster variant, the PB 9 RB: Wt 3.2/1C, ROF 16, ST 9, Cost $11,000/$10 2. Often used with an extended double C cell ($20) which doubles shots to 270(3) and increased weight to 2.7/2C. The PB 9 RB is a popular weapon among high risk target bodyguards do to being able to bring a good volume of firepower in an easily concealable form factor.
BEAMS (PISTOL) (DX-4, Other Beam-4, or Guns(Pistol)-4)
TL Weapon Damage Acc Range Wt. ROF Shots ST Bulk Rcl Cost LC Notes
11^ PB 9 3d+1(5) burn sur 5 370/1,100 2.2/1C 3 135(3) 7 -2 1 $3,400/$10 3
Blaster Rifles
InVid Designs Works Short-ranged Weapon, Ordnance Disruptor (SWORD) (TL11^)
Nicknamed the One and Done, the SWORD was designed to give military units a quick reaction time, anti armor weapon system that could be used in situations where normal rocket or missile launchers would take too long to set up or wouldn’t be effective. The SWORD is a fundamentally simple weapon and is effectively a over powered single shot bolt generator with a stock that resembles a large, stubby blaster rifle with a break action. To boost its power while keeping its weight a low as possible it is one of the few small arms turbo blasters and to that end of weight reduction it also mounts the smallest bolt emitter possible. It is powered by a single use, non-rechargeable B cell which is loaded by opening the break action where the stock meets the bolt generator, placing the B cell into the chamber just behind the generator and then closing the action. After firing you open the action again, which automatically ejects the spent power cell, you place a new one and start the process again.
While not in the numbers wanted, the SWORD has had some success with military contracts where, despite its design goal as an anti armor weapon, it sees more use as a armored door breaching device. It has however seen decent sales with mercenaries and bounty hunters where its size and reputation makes it an effective psychological impact weapon.
Cray Tec Elite Sight 2960 (TL11^)
The Cray Tec 2960 is a semi-automatic precision engineered sniper blaster rifle bar none. It features an extended bolt emitter for long ranged engagement, near perfect calibration (treat as Very Fine (Accurate), High-Tech pg. 79. Note that for blasters ever +1 Acc becomes +2.5), built in bipod (High-Tech pg. 160) and a high powered targeting scope.
The targeting scope is based around a 16× Hyperspectral scope (+4 bonus to aimed shots, gives Restricted Visions (Tunnel Visions) when being used) and has a tiny built in Slow C4 microcomputer (Weight is nil, cost $0.25) That runs a C4 +2 Targeting Program ($150). It weighs 2 lbs, cost $8,150 and runs off a B cell for 400 hrs. When not being used as a targeting scope it can be used as a normal hyperspectral passive sensor.
To make transporting the weapon easier, the 2960’s barrel can be detached from the main housing. The weapons housing weighs 7.5lbs on its own and the barrel weighs 6.5lbs.
While do to its high cost, the 2960 has not been picked up as an official military rifle, it is currently the best selling blaster rifle among professional snipers who are allowed to buy their own weapons and even has surprisingly high sales in the civilian market were owning such a weapon is still legal do to its reputation.
BEAMS (RIFLE) (DX-4, Other Beam-4, or Guns(Rifle)-4)
TL Weapon Damage Acc Range Wt. ROF Shots ST Bulk Rcl Cost LC Notes
11^ SWORD 13d+1(5) burn sur 10 570/1,700 13/1B 1 1(3) 8† -5 1 $60,000/$3 2 [1]
11^ 2960 6d+1(5) burn sur 15 2,600/7,900 17/2C 3 40(3) 8B† -6 1 $140,000/$20 2
[1] Uses non-rechargeable B cells.
Scattershot Blasters
Scattershot blasters fire a slightly defocused full powered bolt which let it, when passed through a specialized deflector field, break down into 12 sub-bolts filaments allowing a semi-automatic bolt generator to effectively rapid fire. As a side effect of the need to defocus the bolt to break it down, penetration power takes a hit and range is reduced. However, while it may seem wasteful to reduce to produce a high powered bolt and break it down into twelve less powerful ones, this technique was originally developed back when rapid-fire bolt generators were too complicated and expensive to produce for small arms and was seen as a necessary compromise.
Now that rapid fire bolt generators are much cheaper, scattershot blasters have fallen out of predominant use but it still does offer a fair rate of fire for a lower price than a true rapid fire blaster and they still have their uses; police and military forces still find it useful in close combat situations in built up areas where its high rate of fire and low chance of over penetration is needed as well as is commonly found on more rural
worlds as a hunting or anti-varmint weapon.
Scattershot blasters have two modes of fire, slugshot and scattershot. In slugshot mode a scattershot blaster fires a full power bolt that does tight beam burning damage with a (3) armor divisor and the surge damage modifier and has ROF 3. In scattershot mode Acc is at -2, each shot does ×0.44 as much damage as a slugshot bolt that does tight beam burning damage with a (2) armor divisor and the surge damage modifier but has a much increased has ROF 12. At extremely close range, less than 10% of the weapons half damage, sub-bolts have not had a chance to spread out and instead acts almost like a full powered bolt. In this case do not apply the weapon's ROF! Instead multiply both basic damage and the targets DR by half that value (round down). The pattern of its spread can also changed from a normal spread to a circle or oval shaped one. In circle spread the spread “extremely close range” changes from less than 10% of its half damage range to 20% of it. Beyond this range subtract -1 from your effective gun skill but multiply the number of scored hits by 1.5. In oval spread you can chose to have the patten lie horizontally which gives +1 to hit SM+0 sized targets but treat the weapons as having an effective Rcl of 2. Or you can have it stand up vertically giving -1 to effective skill but giving the weapon an effective Rcl of 0.5 doubling the amount of scored hits.
It takes a ready action to switch between modes.
LazCorp Outlander 683 (TL11^)
The outlander 683 and it’s many knock offs are among the most common civilian blasters owned on more rural worlds. The weapon is a very old design making it heavy (treat as Cheap, Ultra-Tech pg. 15) but cheap.
OFB Enforcer MK VII Delta (TL11^)
While outdated (treat as Cheap, Ultra-Tech pg. 15), the Ocultus Firearm Bureau’s Enforcer Scattershot blaster is a common site in many police forces armouries. Much like with LazCorp Outlander it’s low cost makes it hard to justify buying more modern designs.
Intersol Manufacturing Concern PB-87 Suppressor (TL11^)
One of the few more modern scattershot blaster designs, PB-87 has a sleek and aggressive look and a collapsible stock for easier use in close combat. While lighter and more modern than most scattershot blasters, it has had trouble finding a market since one of the main buying points for most scattershot blasters is their low price. With the stock retracted its bulk becomes -3* but its Acc drops to 7 in slugshot mode and 5 in scattershot mode and ST becomes 8†.
BEAMS (RIFLE) (DX-4, Other Beam-4, or Guns(Shotgun)-4)
TL Weapon Damage Acc Range Wt. ROF Shots ST Bulk Rcl Cost LC Notes
11^ Outlander 683 1d+2(2) burn sur 7 40/121 4.1/2C 3×12 224(3) 6† -3 1 $2,050/$20 3 [1]
11^ Enforcer MK VII 2d+1(2) burn sur 7 75/230 9/2C 3×12 86(3) 7† -5 1 $5,300/$20 3 [2]
11^ PB-87 2d+1(2) burn sur 7 75/230 6.3/2C 3×12 86(3) 7† -4* 1 $10,700/$20 2 [2]
[1]The list stats are for scattershot mode. In slugshot mode change its stats to: Damg 3d+2(3), Acc 10, range 310/630, and ROF 3.
[2]The list stats are for scattershot mode. In slugshot mode change its stats to: Damg 5d(3), Acc 10, range 400/1,200, and ROF 3.
Heavy Repeating Blasters
Startrodder HRX 888 Heavy Repeating Blaster Rifle (TL11^)
The HRX is heavy repeating support blaster designed to by pintle door mounted on troop carriers and to used to provide cover fire at 960 rounds per minute for disembarking troop, either mounted to a pintle mount or powered tripod (Ultra-Tech pg. 151) all the while having a novel design feature that also let it handle some anti-armor work in a pinch.
At first glance the weapon seems fairly conventional for a heavy repeating blaster with a standard reinforced repeating barrel (treat as having a Standard Energy Machine Gun Barrel, see this post here for more) and a line of linked power cells to power it, a closer look reveals some unique features.
The most noticeable feature is the domed shaped CX 889 Hi-Capacity Active Coolant System (See this post for rules covering liquid cooling systems) that attaches to the end of the power cell link belt. The CX 889 runs a 1 yard cooling line through the power cell link belt to a cooling jacket around the barrel that let it fire 417 rounds per pound for a total 1,668 rounds before the coolant needs to be fully replaced. A built in C-cell powers the system for up to 50hrs. The total weight of the system is 11.8lbs, 7.8lbs empty and costs $380. Liquid nano-dimondoid fluid costs $10 per pound. The coolant line weighs 0.4lbs and costs $4.With out cooling, the 888 can rapid fire for 300 rounds without needing cooling.
The next feature is has two modes of fire activated by a pump action toggle. By pumping the action (takes a ready action) the 888 switches from rapid fire mode to a charged fire mode. This reduced the weapon's ROF to 1 and concentrates all the energy of the 16 rounds burst it normally fires into a more powerful shot (Damage 15d(5) burn sur, range 7,300/22,000, ROF 1). Each charged shot uses 16 shots.
Lastly it uses 19 higher-end, high capacity C-cells in its power cell link belt. These hold 2.5× the energy but also cost 10× as much giving the 888 a capacity of 1,187 shots per belt. Each belt, with cooling system lines running through them weighs 12 lbs and costs $2,000.
The total weight of the system, fully loaded with coolant, is 45 lbs.
While meant to be used as a mounted weapon, some rather well built (or non-human) mercenaries and bounty hunters have rigged up the 888 to shoulder fired. Change its stats to Acc 10, wt 35.3/9C, ST10†.
GUNNER (BEAMS) (DX-4, or Other Gunner)
TL Weapon Damage Acc Range EWt. ROF Shots ST Bulk Rcl Cost LC Notes
11^ HRX 888 6d(5) burn sur 15 1,100/3,500 21.3/19C 16 224(3) 13M -8 1 $86,000/$2,000 2
Blaster Cannons
Wald and Tac PBC Mk VII Crew Served Blaster Cannon (TL11^)
One of the main light crew served of the Imperial Military, the PBC Mk VII sees use with everywhere from defending fortress installations to being carried on the backs of mechanized forces into battle in defense of the Emperor.
The Mk VII is a fairly conventional light blaster cannon. Generally mounted to a powered tripod (Ultra-Tech pg. 151), it is single shot only and has a shoten bolt emitter as is common with crew served blaster cannons to help keep its weight down. It is powered by a E cell that is attached to it by a 3 yards armored power cord (0.9lbs, $130, DR24/8*†. See this post for more on armored power cords) which can power the weapon for 92 shots. It is usually operated by a crew of two, the gunner who operates and the power cell carrier who makes sure the weapon stays powered, carries two extra E cells and helps act as a second pair of eyes for the gunner.
To help with target acusion it mounts a 16× hyperspectral scope (+4 bonus to aimed shots, gives Restricted Visions (Tunnel Visions) when being used). On its own it weighs 2 lbs, cost $8,00 and runs off a B cell for 400 hrs. When not being used as a targeting scope it can be used as a normal hyperspectral passive sensor.
To help make carrying the weapon more bearable for its crew it break down into three parts, each weighing 57.6lbs. The Gunner usually carries two of the parts with the power cell carrier carrying the last one, the power cells and the cord. However do to weapons weight, Mk VII crews usually deployed as mechanized infantry off of a APC.
GUNNER (BEAMS) (DX-4, or Other Gunner)
TL Weapon Damage Acc Range Wt. ROF Shots ST Bulk Rcl Cost LC Notes
11^ PBC Mk VII 6d×3(5) burn sur 15 5,200/16,000 175/1E 1 92(5) 21M -10 1 $350,000/$2,000 1
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